


S-KRA

by Maiika



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, Artificial Intelligence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Humor, Robot Sex, Robot/Human Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-05
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:33:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 16,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27690757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiika/pseuds/Maiika
Summary: No matter how much Kakashi tries, he can’t dodge his best friend’s relentless efforts to pull him out of his depression and help him move on from the past.  When Guy’s latest surprise for him results in a trendy new artificial human unit crashing into Kakashi’s home and his life, Kakashi is so thrown out of balance by S-KRA’s affects on him that he doesn’t even have time to consider whether he affects her.Fic inspired by the TV series, Humans
Relationships: Haruno Sakura/Hatake Kakashi, Hatake Kakashi & Maito Gai | Might Guy
Comments: 120
Kudos: 103
Collections: Naruto Sci-fi Week!





	1. It’s Not Human

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to thank Syusuke, Ohayohimawari and Tenzosnewleaf for brainstorming the title of this fic with me, and especially TNL because this one I landed on was their suggestion and it’s just perfect.
> 
> (Fic marked mature for now but may become explicit toward the end)

Kakashi used to think he understood his humanity. 

Now, he wondered if he might be even less human than the machines who worked in domestic servitude in suburban homes all over the city of Konoha. It wasn’t his cybernetic acuity enhancement in his left eye that made him question himself, nor the electric circuits running through his body due to years of mended injuries in the line of duty. It was his _moral_ humanity under scrutiny. He couldn’t consider himself human when he could take another’s life without feeling. And yet, the last dozen or so he’d taken with as much ease as getting dressed in the morning.

He looked down at himself, realizing that he had yet to perform that simple morning ritual. He hadn’t bothered getting out of pajamas _most_ days as of late, actually. He couldn’t see the point. He was on leave. He’d told what few remaining friends he had not to visit. He had plenty of books to read and very little appetite, so he didn’t see himself getting dressed to go out in the near future. There was nothing out there for him.

Kakashi turned away from his open window where he could see the neighbor’s children playing and hear the passing cars of busy people. It was time he immerse himself in a different world. He reached for his bookshelf because he preferred having his fictional world immersion the old fashioned way. There was no reason to waste the money on sensory immersive tech when a book was just as effective at distracting him from the darker thoughts that always lurked. For _that_ costly a virtual assistance, he might as well buy one of those high-end AIs. These days, they were passable for human with state of the art hair skin and nails, memory and personality programming on par with any human and _above_ some, and various masteries of skills depending on the model. Kakashi didn’t want to bother. He only wanted to be left alone to distract himself with books, and when that didn’t work, to wallow in the misery of the guilt he carried like a well-worn jacket.

He sank into his easy chair with a book he couldn’t even remember selecting, but he was fine with it. It was one of his favorites he may have already read a hundred times. With a sigh, he opened the book, crossed his bare ankle over the flannel covering his knee, and began skimming through the words he could practically recite without having to look at the page.

When the doorbell rang and was immediately followed by a knock at the door, Kakashi had barely turned the first page. He groaned, considering ignoring his unannounced intruder, but the knocking continued and the chime of his doorbell sounded again.   
  
  


A call came through his door, loud and vocal and impossible for him not to acknowledge. “Oh, Kakashi! I am sorry if I am disturbing a most _restful_ sleep, but I know you’re in there!”

Pushing a sigh through his lips, Kakashi closed his book. He left the comfort of his chair just as Guy started reciting his ritualistic eternal rival monologue. As much as Kakashi wanted to drag his feet to the door, _that speech_ made him want to move faster. When Kakashi opened his front door, it thankfully put an end to Guy’s boisterous conversation with his house. It also revealed to Kakashi through his screen door his best friend’s blinding smile and head to toe covering of his favorite shade of green. To Kakashi’s surprise, a head of pink lurked behind Guy. 

He hadn’t come alone this time.

“Kakashi!” Guy exclaimed, throwing his arms out as if to embrace Kakashi.

“Guy,” Kakashi said, tapping the near-invisible screen between them both to save it _and_ himself from Guy’s overbearing arms. “You’re earlier than usual today.”

Guy laughed and threw his head back. “I knew you would say that! But I thought in the spirit of youthful competition, you might like an earlier jog today. If we start now, we can add miles.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Of course we can!” Guy smiled, misunderstanding Kakashi’s rejection. “If we do not add two miles today, we will have to add thr–”

Kakashi tipped his chin past Guy’s shoulder. “Who’s that?”

Guy grunted and flinched before glancing over his shoulder. “Oh! I-I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t think you would notice her petite figure behind my broad, masculine frame, my friend!”

“It?” Kakashi cocked a brow, but couldn’t see past Guy’s _broad shoulders._ “Surprise? You know I don’t like surprises.”

He furrowed his brows as pieces began to connect. A _her_ behind Guy who he referred to as an _it_ and _a surprise_ during one of the times Guy usually arrived here to do everything in his power to save Kakashi from his own depression.

Kakashi cast Guy a withering glare. “Tell me you didn’t.”

Guy stepped aside, beaming instead of grimacing as any normal person with _an iota of_ humility would. When he extended his hands in a presentational gesture and the young woman behind him was revealed to Kakashi’s eyes, Guy gasped as if _he_ was surprised.

“Her name,” he said, “is Sakura! S-dash-K-R-A.”

_Its_ name was Sakura, a KRA unit then, Kakashi had to remind himself. Looking at her, it was hard to believe she was anything but human. Her pink hair perfectly framed a heart-shaped face with flawless skin. Her height was shorter than Guy, but not as petite as suggested by Guy’s belief that she’d be completely hidden. Her plain red t-shirt and jeans couldn’t hide the shapely figure of her breasts and hips, which swelled around her lean waist containing all the operational parts which made her perform all the basic human functions without ever having been taught to perform them.

“Sakura,” Guy said to it, and its jade green eyes darted shyly to Kakashi’s face, “meet Kakashi Hatake, my best friend and eternal rival and _your_ new master.”

As Kakashi blanched at the title, S-KRA blushed, her cheeks rosy enough to convince Kakashi she had actual blood running beneath those layers of fabricated skin rather than tinted lubricating fluids.

“Ooh, Kakashi,” she cooed, starry-eyed as she kneaded her hands together, “nice to meet you. I mean,” she giggled, “I’m so excited. You’re...you’re really handsome.”

Kakashi turned a glare on Guy. “I hate it.”

Guy blinked. “You do not like the personality setting? Oh, no worries! We can adjust that. She comes with many factory presets.”

As Guy reached for the back of her neck, S-KRA fluttered her lashes at Kakashi. “I’m sorry, Kakashi. I thought...well, hopefully you like–”

“Guy, this is stupid,” Kakashi said as Guy flicked his wrist, causing S-KRA to close her eyes and bow her head. “I don’t need one of these things. I’ll get...a dog if you don’t want me to be left alone.”

“A _dog?”_ S-KRA snarled, her head snapping up to reveal beautiful white teeth bared between her glossy pink lips. “Are you suggesting I am equivalent to a dog?”

“No,” Kakashi drawled, narrowing his eyes. He was surprised by S-KRA’s sudden personality shift, but it wasn’t going to shake him. “I’m suggesting you’re a step down.”

“I’ll have you know,” S-KRA said, puffing out her chest and narrowing her thin brows, “I am trained in _all_ subject matter from hairstyling to pressure point grappling. Name anything, and I can help you. I can do _so_ much more than a dog, Mister–”

“Kakashi.”

“I know your name!” S-KRA seethed, turning to Guy. “Are you sure you bought me for _him?”_

Guy nodded.

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. “Guy, why is it so worked up? I didn’t think–”

“Yeah, you _didn’t_ think,” S-KRA spat as she tore Kakashi’s screen door open and thrusted a rigid finger into his sternum. “You’re lucky you have friends who care enough to do it for you, though.”

Her entire demeanor shifted, softening with a well-placed smile as she flattened her warm palm over Kakashi’s beating heart. Kakashi supposed this was a tactic of hers, or another adjustment to her programming with a sweeter, more docile personality coming to the forefront. As S-KRA drew near, only inches from his face with shining green eyes holding his gaze, Kakashi was stunned into silence. She _smelled_ like a real woman, all cherry blossom perfume and fresh skin. And as Kakashi’s eyes traveled lower, he saw that she definitely had curves like one, with biological responses and all. When he saw her nipples hardening beneath the fabric of her t-shirt, Kakashi’s mouth went dry.

“Now,” S-KRA said as she pushed Kakashi deeper into the house. She stepped around him, welcoming herself into Kakashi’s home. “How about I start off by fixing you something to eat? You look light as a scarecrow! Judging by the bone density my sensors are picking up, you _definitely_ are deficient in a few key nutrients.”

As she strolled past him, destined for his kitchen (apparently knowing exactly where it was), Kakashi gawked after her swaying rear end until she was out of view. If he didn’t know any better, he’d think the AI was _flirting_ with him. She’d just landed an insult, but her attitude felt more flirtatious than the last few women who had _tried_ to pick him up.

As the telltale beeps of his oven started, Kakashi turned his astounded gaze to Guy. “What–”

Guy broke out in booming laughter. “Perfect! My incredible new friend, Sakura will keep you in line, your body at its peak of perfection, and your mind too busy to ever feel sadness again, Kakashi!”

Kakashi shook his head. “I don’t want–”

Guy clapped him on the shoulder. “And while the lovely Sakura is preparing a hearty meal, we have time for that friendly challenge of three miles if w–”

Kakashi slapped the offending hand away, glaring daggers at his best (worst) friend. “Not today, Guy.”

He hadn’t asked for this and Guy _knew_ Kakashi would’ve declined if he’d asked for his permission to bring an AI into his home. So Guy had bought her himself and delivered her here. _Maybe_ that was thoughtful of him, but it was also incredibly stupid. Kakashi couldn’t let Guy waste his money on this. He was only going to unplug the AI and set her in some corner as soon as Guy left. Not that she could possibly have feelings, but Kakashi couldn’t help feeling bad for letting her go to waste. Guy needed to take S-KRA with him before it rotted away here. Kakashi was _fine_ with being alone. He was taking perfectly good care of himself as he _had_ been doing for years and if what he needed was company, a synthetic human hardly counted anyway.

“But Kakashi, I just brought you a most magical gift to retain your youth! Sakura’s body mimics that of a fit twenty-two-year-old, not much younger than us! If you will not exercise with me, I am certain _she_ can–”

Kakashi shoved Guy out his door with a roll of his eyes. “Give me a minute. I’ll be right out.”

He slammed the front door and the screen and cast a glare toward the sounds of sizzling and the familiar aroma of eggplant filling his kitchen as he passed to his bedroom. He would not acknowledge that S-KRA had pinpointed one of his favorite meals, though the clues made it seem likely. She’d known the geography of his home, the way to talk to him to get her way, and now what he liked to eat. 

It was becoming apparent to Kakashi as he dressed himself in sweats and a hoodie that S-KRA was not just some standard prototype machine Guy had picked up. And if Guy was dragging Kakashi out of his house at this early, chilly hour, Kakashi was going to take full advantage of the time away from S-KRA to find out exactly what he was dealing with here.

He didn’t like surprises.

* * *

Kakashi’s lungs _burned._

He was fit, even after taking leave as long as he had. He had been top of his class in the academy, the best of the best. So he didn’t know where Guy came from with this energy, but he was a challenge to keep up with. Sometimes, Kakashi lost himself in the challenge of it. While pumping his arms and pushing his legs past the pain to propel himself forward, there was no time to think about what could have been or the people he missed. There was only the fresh air, the passing bushes and slabs of concrete, and the man in a green tracksuit trying to pass him.

“Ha!” Guy exhaled, grinning widely as he peered sideways at Kakashi, “a won-der-ful day for…”

“Shutup,” Kakashi panted in a single breath, tucking his chin and forcing himself past Guy.

“...a jog!” 

Kakashi stopped dead, grimacing as he planted his heels in the dirt and watched the world around him skid to a halt. Guy slowed gradually, coming to a stop a few feet ahead of him before turning with a thick eyebrow raised and his bowl-cut head cocked. Kakashi shook his head. Every day, their “jog” erupted into a run, which never failed to become a race. Seeing that Kakashi didn’t want to leave the house in the first place, Kakashi considered himself a good sport for allowing this to go on. But he drew the line at calling this a _jog_ in the middle of a breathtaking dash that had them clear _past_ Guy’s three mile limit.

“Had,” Guy panted as he pressed his fists to his hips, “enough, Kakashi?”

Kakashi rolled his eyes. If it would convince Guy to let off…“Yeah.”

“Or is it,” Guy said with a taunting tone, “that you would like to return to the lovely Sakura?”

Kakashi stepped up to meet Guy, throwing an arm over his shoulder as he led him forward, _away_ from the house _and_ S-KRA. “Guy, before we go back to the house, you’re going to tell me exactly what Sakura does and what you expect to happen here.”

Guy blinked clueless dark eyes at him. “She is an AI, Kakashi. She does whatever you program her to do with the utmost vigor, of course.”

Kakashi scoffed. “So she cooks. She cleans. She–”

As he read the grimace and blush crossing Guy’s face, Kakashi swallowed his next words. Guy was never one to keep secrets well. After all, he’d already let something slip. It was something unbelievable and incomprehensible to Kakashi, but this _was_ Guy. S-KRA was one of the most advanced models, Guy had said. And she was programmed to do _whatever_ Kakashi programmed her to do. Guy had called her lovely. No one would bother calling a robot lovely unless there was a reason...

“Guy,” Kakashi growled.

“Yes,” Guy yelped, his face reddening and eyes averting Kakashi’s gaze as Kakashi’s grip around his shoulders tightened, “my friend?”

Kakashi bit his lip. That response was as good as a confession. “Dammit! You bought me a _sex_ robot?”

“Sh!” Guy looked surreptitiously around the park but should’ve realized they were alone so far out here. No one could overhear them. “Kakashi! This is a public park where beautiful families take their children!”

“And my _bed,”_ Kakashi growled, wringing his arm around Guy’s neck, “is a _private_ place for me to take human women.”

“But you haven’t taken a woman since–” Guy tensed, catching the fury in Kakashi’s eyes. Even _he_ was smart enough to know not to go there. “Owning one is nothing to be ashamed of, my friend. Ask Master Jiraiya. He has many of these models an–”

“I’m sure he does.” Kakashi loosened his grip and heaved a sigh. “Guy, I’m not comfortable having that thing in my house. I want it out.”

“She’s not a _thing,_ Kakashi, not really,” Guy said even as Kakashi raised a dubious brow. “You know they say the AI have become so advanced these days that the latest models don’t only feel real to _you._ _They_ feel real, Kakashi.”

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. “Sentient beings?”

Guy nodded and knitted his brows. “You know, my boy, Lee–”

“Oh, God, Guy,” Kakashi said with a grimace, “you really use that teenage boy f–”

Guy burst into raucous laughter. “No, no! He is an excellent assistant and friend. But I was going to say he feels like a son to me these days. And he has feelings for me. He even cries w–”

“It’s in his _programming,_ Guy,” Kakashi said with a shake of his head. “Don’t be a fool. The tech is excellent at mimicking real human emotions. It doesn’t mean he has them.”

Kakashi cursed himself for his own stupidity. For a second - just a blink of a second - he’d almost entertained the idea that Guy was onto something. It wouldn’t be the first time Kakashi had seen an AI burst into tears over the loss of a master or exhibit signs of trauma after being part of a serious incident. But that was all cleared away with reprogramming. A simple reset, and it was like it never happened. Sometimes, Kakashi envied them that trait.

“But–” Guy stopped short, pressing his lips into a hard line before meeting Kakashi’s eyes with determination in his gaze. “Rock Lee. I know he–”

“Feels nothing,” Kakashi finished for him, stepping away. “Sakura feels nothing.”

“Don’t say that!” Guy said, his eyes watering when Kakashi looked back. “Give her a chance. Please, Kakashi!”

Kakashi groaned. “Guy…”

He hated to see his friend cry. Maybe Guy was more sensitive than Kakashi had the capacity to understand after all he’d experienced, seen and lost, but Kakashi knew his friend was coming from a place of genuine concern for Kakashi. For whatever reason, Guy failed to see how cancerous Kakashi was to other people. He insisted on sticking around to make things better.

“You know,” Kakashi told him reluctantly, “you’re a thorn in my side.”

Guy beamed and gave Kakashi a thumbs-up. “That’s right! I will always stick to you. Friends until the end. And now, so will our dear Sakura.”

Kakashi scratched the back of his head. “Guy…”

“We should return to your house!” Guy exclaimed, suddenly bright and lively. “Let Sakura speak for herself and demonstrate her skills to you!”

Kakashi leveled Guy with a look.

He shrunk from Kakashi’s gaze. “Maybe not _all_ of her skills.”

As Guy laughed and skipped toward the house, Kakashi wilted where he stood. Guy wasn’t going to take S-KRA away. He was firm on this and there would be no talking him out of this crazy determination he’d made that Kakashi needed a _KRA_ unit in his house. He supposed he could always power her down, throw a sheet over her and never acknowledge her existence aside from the times Guy would arrive for his impromptu visits. Of course, Kakashi would have to program S-KRA to provide a story for his guest every time she started up again so she wouldn’t rat him out. That sounded troublesome. This whole thing was a burden.

“Come on, come on,” Guy called from a distance, and Kakashi looked up to find him crossing to the other side of the park. “I challenge you to a race back to the house, eternal rival!”

“Oh, G–” 

Kakashi cut off with a scoff as Guy broke into a sprint, starting with an unfair advantage in distance and time. Kakashi wasn’t going to complain about it, though. He was going to beat the odds. _He_ would be the first to greet S-KRA when they returned.

He just wasn’t sure what he was going to do after that.

  
  



	2. It Gets Angry

“So? How is it?”

Considering that her sense of taste was artificial, S-KRA made a very good eggplant. Her dish was cooked to perfection, the sauces delicate and flavorful, the eggplant not too soft or chewy, the rice and other vegetables balancing the dish. Kakashi sat with an empty bowl in front of him, Guy beside him asking for seconds and S-KRA eyeing Kakashi over the pot while she served up a new bowl. Kakashi took in her features while she worked. He had never seen such an appealing shade of green as he saw in her almond-shaped eyes. Most green-eyed people bore more of a forest green or a brownish hue to their eyes, but S-KRA’s were a vivid jade. They were edging on blue and deeper than the ocean. There was a saying - the eyes were the windows to the soul. Kakashi knew S-KRA didn’t have a soul - she couldn’t - but he swore there were deep pools of expectation looking back at him through those eyes, as if she really cared how he felt about her dish.

Incredulous, he decided to rebel against that possibility. “It’s fine, I suppose.”

He pushed away the dish for emphasis before locking eyes with S-KRA. A machine would continue her task without complaint, possibly apologize or make an offhand defensive remark, but S-KRA’s soulless eyes sparked with fury.

“Kakashi!” Guy said around a mouthful of food. “What are you talking about? Iss delishhsh an sh’made your favorite!”

“Right?” S-KRA insisted, planting a hand on her hip and narrowing her jade eyes at Kakashi. “This _is_ your favorite. And I have met your expectations, have I not?”

“Who said I have expectations of you?” Kakashi said before shooting Guy an accusing glance.

“No one has to tell me,” S-KRA said on an exhale as she crossed the kitchen to deliver Guy a steaming new bowl of eggplant. “It’s in my programming. You know I was programmed and linked specifically to you to be in tune with your preferences and desires, right, Kakashi Hatake?”

Kakashi ground his teeth. There was no point in even directing his fury at Guy, who was too busy shoveling food in his mouth to recognize Kakashi’s anger. Soon, Guy would leave and it would be just Kakashi and S-KRA left here. Currently, _she_ had a look on her synthetic face to match the way Kakashi genuinely felt.

Kakashi glowered at that artificial hatred. “I feel _so_ honored.”

“You should.” S-KRA raised her chin and sank into the chair across from him. 

She _moved_ like a woman. She had spunk like a woman. Her weight settled in the chair feather-light, like there was not a single nut or bolt inside her. No, there wouldn’t be. A model of her advance might have wiring similar to those within Kakashi’s own body due to his enhancements, but the rest perfectly mimicked flesh and blood. Synthetic or not, that was the look and feel she would have. Flesh, like that Kakashi used to feel and taste on the person he loved before that was all ripped away from him. He still couldn’t believe Guy would try to replace that with a machine, no matter how lifelike she was.

“Kakashi,” S-KRA said, jarring him from his reverie, “what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Do you want more?” S-KRA said with a nod to her cooking, “or is it too substandard for your taste? I could throw it out…”

She raised a brow, tilting her head like she _knew_ the inflection in her voice would get under Kakashi’s skin when paired with the snark she was throwing at him. She was programmed to know his taste. And being a machine, she didn’t make mistakes. She _knew_ Kakashi loved the food, regardless of the answer he’d given her. And now she was feeling vindictive because of his refusal to compliment her. Apparently. It was...strange.

“No,” Kakashi drawled, curious to see what she would do next as she rose from her chair. “Don’t throw it out.”

“I’ll save it for your lunch for tomorrow,” S-KRA said as she turned away.

There was no bite to her words this time. She even sounded _sweet._ Kakashi sighed. This artificial housemate was already annoying him with her unpredictable mood swings and arrogant attitude.

“Excellent!” Guy said, shooting out of his chair and dropping his fork into his emptied bowl. “A most excellent meal you have cooked up, Sakura. I am sure it will nourish our Kakashi in his gut as well as his heart when you refuel him with it tomorrow.”

“Why do you have t–”

“Thank you, _Guy,”_ S-KRA said, leaning into Kakashi with narrowed eyes. “I’m glad _someone_ appreciates my precisely timed and measured cooking.”

“I cook for myself _just_ fine–”

“Sure you do,” S-KRA said, shooting a wry smile over her shoulder at Kakashi as she turned back to the stove. “But you have my cooking now. There’s no need to get by on that anymore.”

“Yum, yum. Certainly!” Guy said, rubbing his belly and circling around the table. “Why, when Rock Lee cooks at my house, it i–”

“Isn’t it about _time_ you return home, Guy?” Kakashi said, standing so he could usher Guy physically to the door. “Rock Lee might worry, hmm?”

Guy gasped and willingly allowed the push to guide him to the door before sprinting ahead under his own power. “Thank you, Kakashi! Lee! I don’t want you to be lonely or fear the worst might have happened to me!”

Kakashi opened the door and watched Guy pass through it. “Bye! Don’t rush to come back.”

When he slammed the door, he heard a soft peal of laughter behind him. It ran through him like a bolt of lightning. It was a sound he hadn’t heard within these walls in years. It was the sound he used to associate with his wife and her sweet smile.

“Kakashi,” Rin said.

No, it wasn’t Rin. It was S-KRA. Rin was still dead and would forever be. In her stead, a _machine_ was filling Kakashi’s home with the sounds Rin had been meant to fill until the end of their days together after they’d grown old and experienced the rest of their lives.

“Do you have to be so mean to him?”

Kakashi closed his eyes, concentrating on matching the voice to the face. Rin used to say that, too. She always stood up for Guy, like she stood up for everyone. Kakashi wondered if S-KRA was like her in that way too, or was only teasing him now, as she seemed to have developed an affinity for.

“Kakashi?”

Kakashi opened his eyes to find green eyes staring back at him beneath pink brows furrowed with concern. He struck his hand out at the first sight of movement, stopping S-KRA from touching him. He couldn’t handle that now. If her _touch_ felt anything like Rin’s, he could fall into this machine replacement more than he should in a way that couldn’t possibly be healthy in spite of whatever Guy had in mind.

Short of touching his cheek, S-KRA tracked Kakashi’s hand with her gaze and withdrew. “Are you okay?”

Kakashi huffed a laugh. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

S-KRA narrowed her eyes perceptively. “You seemed to be introspecting just now. Based on what my files say about you, that means you are diving into thoughts which could derail your mental health. It is my duty to prevent that, Kakashi.”

Kakashi sighed as he felt a wash of relief. “You’re not like her at all.”

Rin always took care of Kakashi, but she never spoke like that. She never looked so adorably serious when she set about trying to cheer him up. She was lively and bubbly all the time. She was...so human. S-KRA was not. She didn’t have to be, either. All she was here to do was to perform her functions.

Kakashi massaged his brow. “I’m fine. Now, Sakura, it's very nice having you here.”

S-KRA brightened. “Really?”

“Sure,” Kakashi said, sliding his hand down over his mouth so she wouldn’t see his grin. “Now you can do my laundry. And the dishes.”

“I just washed the dishes,” S-KRA said flatly.

It was funny how she could look so irritated. It was as if she was actually disappointed that Kakashi wasn’t genuinely happy about her mere _presence._

“After that,” Kakashi added with a wistful sigh as he panned his gaze across the kitchen, “I suppose it’s about time someone cleaned behind the fridge. And there are stacks of papers due to go into the filing cabinet.”

“Paperwork,” S-KRA said, flat again. “You want me to do your paperwork?”

“What,” Kakashi challenged with a glare past his fingertips pressed against his cheeks, “that’s not one of your _duties?”_

“It is,” S-KRA said, her posture snapping to attention and her chin jutting up in the air. “Fine. I will check with you again when all the tasks have been completed. Anything else?”

“No,” Kakashi said. “That should do it for now. I’m sure I can come up with more when that’s done.”

As S-KRA retreated with a growl and her fists clenched by her sides, Kakashi chuckled to himself. Maybe having a machine like this around his house wasn’t so bad. At least he had somewhere neutral to direct his frustrations when he was feeling particularly vindictive.

* * *

When S-KRA arrived in front of Kakashi’s easy chair hours later, her delicate fingertips pruned from vigorous washing, her clothing dust-stained, and her pink hair a loose spray of strands framing her sweat-glistened high cheekbones, Kakashi almost felt bad. She was an innocent in all of this, having never chosen this role for herself. Maybe she didn’t have feelings, but she was capable of sweating and feeling physical exhaustion, and intellectually aware of Kakashi’s cold demeanor toward her.

“Well…” Kakashi began as he set his open book on the arm of his chair to meet her gaze.

_That_ was a mistake.

Kakashi snapped his mouth shut as he took in the fearsome narrowed eyes staring down at him. S-KRA’s chest heaved with every pseudo-breath she took and her fingernails dug into her palms as her fists clenched by her sides.

“Done,” she snapped. “I’m done with all the tasks. I would like to clean myself up now, unless my _master_ requires anything more from me.”

“Uh, y-no,” Kakashi said, furrowing his brows as he tried and failed to comprehend how this machine programmed to work for him could be _angry_ with him.

“Well?” S-KRA huffed, folding her arms violently across her chest. “Which is it? Do you have more for me to do?”

“No - _shit,”_ Kakashi hissed, squirming under the heat of her gaze. “I never asked for you in the first place!”

“Well, now you have me,” S-KRA said. The ice in her voice had a hint of a thaw beneath it as her eyes and posture softened. “It’s a good thing for you, too. You’ll see the difference I’ve made to your house if you ever get your ass out of that chair and take a look around.”

Kakashi knitted his brows as he felt his upper lip pull into an unbidden snarl. “What kind of artificial human _are_ you?”

“A productive one,” S-KRA said with a gleam in her eyes. “And now since you’ve relieved me of duty, I am going to shower and recharge.”

“Recharge?” Kakashi asked, curious. “Do you–”

“I’ve made up the pullout bed in your study using the spare sheets I found in your disorganized closet.” S-KRA shot him a glare. “I don’t _sleep._ Not like you do. But my systems do require me to be horizontal in order to re-energize all of my core functions.”

“So…” Kakashi narrowed his eyes, “you’ll _look_ like you’re sleeping?”

S-KRA lilted one toned shoulder. “More or less. Will that be all?”

“Will you still be here when I wake up?”

“Yes.”

Kakashi sighed and shrugged. “Then I guess that’s all.”

He wished she would’ve said something different, but he didn’t know why he’d really bothered asking. Guy hadn’t gone cheap with her and these units couldn’t just be disposed of without a procedure involved and loss of a hefty deposit. Kakashi would have to prove to Guy that he didn’t need S-KRA if he really wanted to get rid of her.

He had no idea how he was supposed to do that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow me on tumblr @maiikawriter
> 
> I’m now accepting winter prompts


	3. It Gets Curious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made some edits the last chapter after realizing I hadn’t carried through the S-KRA spelling of Sakura’s name for the narration. Hopefully it’s clear by now that the spelling of her android name is different, but still meant to be pronounced Sakura, which is why it’s “Sakura” when spoken by characters. A technicality, I know, but I’m very particular about this kind of thing. Hope you don’t mind! And happy holidays!

When Kakashi awoke in the morning, it was to the sounds of someone closing his kitchen cabinets. He sat upright, suspecting an intruder before clarity came to him and he recalled his new machine. S-KRA. With a heavy sigh, he kicked his feet out of bed, stopped in the bathroom, and then faced the music by meeting his android guest in his kitchen. The only thing he could look forward to about arriving there was his meal. He smelled breakfast the moment he stepped out into the hall. Bacon, eggs and toast were waiting on a plate at his table beside a glass of juice. S-KRA was waiting beside the stove.

She pursed her lips at Kakashi as he took his seat and gave her nothing more than a glance of acknowledgment. Kakashi didn’t think there was some social etiquette that stated one should perform niceties in the company of their machines. But as he took his first bite of perfectly-scrambled and fluffy egg, he recalled he  _ did _ always say hello to Rock Lee when Guy came by with him. The android always seemed so happy about it, too. Kakashi shook his head as he sipped the orange juice beside his plate - only to realize it was freshly-squeezed. 

He furrowed his brows at S-KRA. “I had oranges?”

S-KRA narrowed her jade eyes into slits. “No. Your refrigerator contents were abysmal for a full grown male. I went shopping this morning.”

“Went shopping?” Kakashi scoffed, turning his eyes to the clock on his stove. “How late–”

“It’s ten a.m.,” S-KRA said, turning to the dirty dishes in the sink. “That’s another issue. You should have at least a few days a week where you wake up at a consistent scheduled hour.”

“Says  _ who?” _ Kakashi said, narrowing his eyes at her narrow back and rudely swaying ass.

It wasn’t right for an android to do that. It was like she was  _ trying _ to tempt him by not just standing there mechanically like he’d expect her to do. 

It. 

Like he’d expect  _ it _ to do.

“Says the entire organized world,” S-KRA remarked lightly as she opened the dishwasher door and bent over, shooting a look over her shoulder while her ass was on full display in Kakashi’s face. “Time to get with the program, Kakashi Hatake.”

Kakashi blinked as S-KRA slid wet dishes into place. “W-what? Program?”

If she meant for him to buy into taking full advantage of her  _ programming, _ to let this mechanical sorcery of manipulation sway him just because he had a  _ pulse _ and two eyes that could clearly see what a phenomenal shape her artificial body had, she was sadly mistaken. He could shut her down right now.

“I’m thinking…” S-KRA said, turning with her finger braced beneath her chin and eyes turned up toward her pink hairline, “nine a.m. That gives you adequate time for rest without wasting away the hours of the day. I’ll program you an alarm.”

Kakashi gawked at her. An alarm. Of course  _ that _ was the programming she was referring to. He needed to get a grip. Just because Guy bought him a sex robot didn’t mean she was here to  _ seduce _ him. Kakashi would need to initiate, and  _ that _ wasn’t happening. What  _ was _ happening was a robot assigning him a schedule. He never even had anywhere to be all day.

“No,” he snapped, shooting S-KRA a glare. “I don’t need it.”

“Listen here,” S-KRA said, moving in on Kakashi like she was on the prowl as he pressed away his half-eaten plate of food. “My programming knows  _ exactly _ what you need.”

Kakashi rose from the table with a roll of his eyes. He didn’t need to listen to this. He wasn’t going to clear his plate, either. He was up now, so he made the move to shower and dress and carry on with his day. With this android here, he was better off going  _ out _ rather than remaining home.

“Following my guidance will improve your life, Kakashi.” S-KRA was  _ following _ him out of his kitchen.

Kakashi picked up the pace, swiping clothes from his drawers as he passed his bedroom before making his way into the bathroom. When he swung the door closed behind him, S-KRA was there to catch it, further annoying him. 

“How about for now,” she said, “I start you off with that alarm one day a week. Once you’re used to it, I will increase it to twice a week.”

Kakashi started the shower, turned to the mirror, and began to undress without looking at S-KRA. If he ignored it, the android would give up eventually. Even a machine had to understand what being ignored meant.

“And...and eventually,” S-KRA said, her voice taking on a new characteristic that finally made Kakashi look her way with furrowed brows as he dropped his pants, “eventually…”

Her eyes were wide and her cheeks rosy, the color spreading evenly across the bridge of her artificial nose. Kakashi stood upright, taking in the furrowing of her brows and parting of her plump lips. She squeaked as her eyes tracked his movement.

“Are you…” Kakashi said, surprised to realize S-KRA was breathing harder, “are you blushing?”

“It’s - it’s...my programming,” S-KRA snapped, glancing toward the wall as her blush brightened. “My circuits are wired to respond to...to certain stimuli.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“And glitches stutter when - I can’t help it!” S-KRA yelled, baring pretty teeth at him. “It’s because your,” S-KRA licked her lips,  _ “physique _ is an impressive package. Um…now as for the alarm. Eight a.m. I think eight a.m. will do.”

“It was nine before.” Kakashi couldn’t help being amused by this. 

S-KRA was full of surprises. She was more lifelike than he anticipated. This could actually work to his advantage. He shot her a smile as he crossed the humidity-slickened tiled floor. When S-KRA edged away from him, Kakashi folded his arms across his chest, noticing the way her eyes traveled south.

“My physique is impressive, huh? Well then,” he said as he leaned into her, capturing her widening jade eyes with his gaze, “I guess there’s no need for that diet change you’re harping on me about. Now. Out.”

“Out?” S-KRA snorted, staying planted at the doorway as Kakashi turned back to the shower with a dismissive shrug, stepping into the heated spray that muffled S-KRA’s voice. “But your alarm schedule - it’s not f-finalized.”

Kakashi shouldn’t have found the tremor in her voice adorable, or the way she averted her eyes from the fogging shower doors between them when he looked her way, but it was. As he washed his hair and hummed a low melody, intent on carrying on in the same way he would if that android wasn’t in the bathroom with him, Kakashi smiled to himself. It was ironic that he should’ve been worried about S-KRA trying to seduce him when it seemed  _ he _ ended up the one unknowingly seducing  _ her. _ It.

She was still an  _ it. _

* * *

“I didn’t know I could turn her on,” Kakashi said, not bothering to beat around the bush.

Ever since Kakashi arrived at Guy’s to escape S-KRA, Guy hadn’t stopped asking questions about how Kakashi was liking her. Kakashi figured if they  _ had _ to continue with this conversation, he might as well jump to the part where Guy could actually provide information. Kakashi didn’t know what to make of S-KRA now. The fact that he’d even been able to  _ smell _ her arousal as he’d passed her on the way out his door still had him alarmed. He’d always had a sensitive nose, and the scent was subtle, but it was  _ real. _ Hers was a  _ perfect _ mimicry of the female body. 

Rock Lee was humming, skirting around the table with raised brows, serving tea from a steaming pot to follow the lunch they’d shared. As Rock Lee poured into Guy’s empty green teacup, Guy knitted his brows at Kakashi so hard that Kakashi thought they’d meet in the middle.

“My friend,” Guy said as he picked up his teacup and Rock Lee shot Kakashi a wide-eyed look, “do you mean to say you turned her awesome programming  _ off? _ Her systems are meant to remain active at all times!”

“Yes!” Rock Lee agreed, narrowing his thick brows at Kakashi. “It is imperative we remain functional for our best performance! The L-E-E programming is not quite the same as a K-R-A model, but our systems are very similar! Sakura will not do well unless given the proper care, Kakashi, Sir!”

“Okay, okay,  _ relax,” _ Kakashi told both of them, exhausted already as he casted Guy a withering glare. “How did you find an  _ android _ as oblivious as you are, Guy?”

Guy laughed and slapped Rock Lee on the shoulder, causing the tea Rock Lee was pouring into Kakashi’s cup to spill over the rim. “Rock Lee is my perfect unit! Now, my friend, if you claim I’m oblivious, please explain. Have you  _ not _ shut down the lovely Sakura’s systems?”

“No, I  _ haven’t,” _ Kakashi hissed, recoiling from the mess Rock Lee was wiping away.

“Then how can you turn her–”

Kakashi shot Rock Lee a glare to shut  _ him _ up before raising a brow at Guy. “Can you get rid of him?”

“I will not be a bother, I promise!” Rock Lee said, raising his chin and standing at full attention with teapot held high. “I will not record this conversation either, if that is your concern.”

“Lee!” Guy barked, sending the android a firm glare. “When my most special guests request you leave us–”

Rock Lee gasped theatrically. “I leave right away! I am so so sorry! Please, forgive me, Guy, Kakashi, Sirs!”

Kakashi grimaced as the android began to get weepy, even going as far as to wipe his sleeve across his face when tears began to leak from his artificial ducts.

“It’s all right,” Guy said, looking very smug as he gave the android a permissive wave. “As long as you never do it again. You still have much to learn, Lee!”

“Yes, Guy, Sir! Thank you for your incredible wisdom and compassion! I will do better next time. And now I will leave you!”

After Rock Lee bowed and scrambled out of the kitchen, Kakashi looked at Guy. It took a moment to remember what he’d wanted to say before the theatrics began. Once he recalled trying to convey to Guy S-KRA’s unexpected behavior this morning, he hesitated. Maybe he was better off not telling Guy. Once he managed to work past Guy’s confusion, Guy would inevitably overwhelm him with a million more questions about how he’d been treating S-KRA. And Kakashi already felt too tired for that.

“So,” Guy said, making Kakashi tense as his friend peered into his eyes as if preparing to hassle him mercilessly. Then Guy blinked. “What were we talking about again?”

“A car,” Kakashi said easily, swiping almonds from the bowl in the center of Guy’s table and tossing them into his mouth. “We were talking about how the  _ next _ time you want to buy me an expensive, personalized gift, it’s going to be a car.”

Guy frowned. “We were?”

“Mm-hmm,” Kakashi hummed as he chewed his almonds, more than satisfied with their turn in conversation.

* * *

Unfortunately, the android waiting for him at home was far more adept at turning the conversation in the direction  _ it _ wanted. It also had a  _ literal _ photographic memory. There was no evading the ambush that greeted him in S-KRA’s quest to understand more about Kakashi’s past. She wanted to know  _ everything _ about the people in the photos she’d found buried in the cluttered closet which he’d ordered her to spend the day cleaning. If he would’ve known she’d be so curious, Kakashi never would’ve given her that task. Now, he was stuck staring at his wedding photo thick with dust while piercing green eyes watched him and painful memories smothered him from every direction until he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

He  _ couldn’t _ breathe.

And then S-KRA was pressing up against him.


	4. It Cares

“You lost consciousness.”

Kakashi sighed as he opened his eyes and sat up. The soft caress of cotton sheets rolled down his stomach while from his bedside, jade eyes stared at him beneath pink brows bowed with concern. S-KRA cocked her head as she swept her gaze across his face, her expression turning analytical.

“Panic attack,” Kakashi said. “Haven’t had one of those in a while.”

He felt his stomach twist as he recalled the cause - traumas he’d been working hard to forget in his seclusion and comfort of being isolated in his home. He’d been doing  _ so well _ with numbing his emotions. It was ironic how this  _ robot _ could incite the return of these feelings.

“Five-hundred days, twenty-two hours, three minutes and forty-two seconds since the last incident in your records,” S-KRA supplied, reminding Kakashi of just how much of a machine she was.

Kakashi shot her a withering glare. “Thanks. I was afraid I might forget how long it’s been since I was relieved from active duty.”

“Your physiological systems are stable,” S-KRA said, pinching Kakashi’s wrist between her fingers, lifting his arm gently from the mattress to hold it level. “Nothing to worry about.”

“I  _ know _ what a panic attack is,” Kakashi growled, ripping his wrist from her soft grasp. “Doesn’t change the way it feels.”

That panic attack had been just as much a wave of realistic sensation as the smooth caress of S-KRA’s hand curling around his wrist. Kakashi felt the heat lingering from her grasp, burned into his skin, even as he tried rubbing it away. S-KRA watched him calmly and silently as he unfurled his fingers from his own wrist and panned his gaze across his starkly cleaned bedroom. S-KRA really  _ had _ done a lot of work cleaning while he’d been out. Kakashi opened his mouth to ask her about the bills he always kept stacked at the corner of his now-bare dresser, but when he met S-KRA’s eyes, he sealed his lips at seeing the determination written on her face.

“You should talk to me about it,” she said solemnly.

Kakashi raised a brow. “What?”

S-KRA gave a stern nod, her pink lips pressing into a hard line. “Your psychological duress. The strain caused by revisiting the memories documented in those photos. Panic attacks are one threat I am programmed to eliminate from your life, Kakashi. Studies have shown talking is proven to relieve post-traumatic stresses from the human psyche.”

Kakashi narrowed his eyes, feeling his blood pressure rise. “There was  _ nothing _ traumatic about the event in those photos. It was my  _ wedding _ day.”

“You were married to Rin Nohara, nurse on the front lines. She was–”

“I  _ don’t _ need you to recite my history to me,” Kakashi’s low growl would register as a warning to any normal person, but S-KRA looked unaffected. “I need–” Kakashi’s breath hitched as emotions prompted by consideration of  _ his _ needs and wants once again threatened to shatter his cool demeanor. “I need you to help me forget about her. About them.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “About all of it.”

“Memories will always be there in some form, Kakashi,” S-KRA said, stroking the back of Kakashi’s hand. “Suppressing them can only be detrimental.”

Kakashi lowered his eyes to S-KRA’s peach flesh in contrast with the paler back of his hand. It was so soft, soothing, and  _ human, _ the way she stroked his knuckles. Her  _ words _ were unaffected, but her body language made Kakashi feel things like he hadn’t felt in a long time. It made him want to lean into the comfort of a warm embrace. It made him want to feel the soft curves of another pressing against him. It made him want someone to understand him. To listen.

“Sakura…” he said.

His fingers twitched beneath S-KRA’s palm, but she continued to stroke until her gentle touch eased his nerves and stilled him.

Kakashi swallowed down the lump forming in his throat. “Why are you doing that?”

“I’m only administering a standard series of questions to assess your current mental state. It’s a way to move you past your panic a–”

“No,” Kakashi said, turning his palm up to wrap his fingers around S-KRA’s palm.  _ “This.” _

S-KRA blinked before looking down at their interlinked fingers. “That...that was something  _ you _ did.”

“No.”

Kakashi watched carefully as S-KRA’s cheeks flushed a pretty pink. The color washed all across her cheekbones and the bridge of her nose, and may have even been tinting her ears if they weren’t camouflaged beneath hair of the same shade. S-KRA was blushing again. This time, there was nothing remotely arousing to stimulate the response. Kakashi hummed, long and low as S-KRA gulped and met his eyes.

“No?” she said, her voice wavering. “You didn’t? I don’t - I don’t underst–”

“It’s okay,” Kakashi said, giving S-KRA’s soft fingers one last squeeze before releasing his hold on her with a sly smile. “If you’re programmed to display feelings for me, I think that’s cute. I’ll have to have a little talk with whoever put you together for Guy.”

S-KRA blustered, narrowing adorably incensed green eyes at him. “C-cute? No! I am programmed for many practical purposes, but  _ emotions _ are not a part of my programming, Kakashi. It’s not within the catalogue of features for K-R-A models!”

“Then why do you sound so angry?” Kakashi said with a smile.

His smile grew as her face reddened, her shiny white teeth were bared, and a little tic became visible at her temple. She  _ was _ cute. Adorable even, when angered like this. It was so fun to provoke these reactions from her. He was beginning to enjoy his S-KRA.

S-KRA growled, incensed further by Kakashi’s evident amusement with her. Blunt force - something heavy and wet - literally slapped the smile off Kakashi’s lips. He brought a hand to his moistened jaw as the wet washcloth rolled down his chest, cold and unwelcome against his bare skin. His sharp gasp prompted a huff from S-KRA, who stood to take her leave from throwing a  _ wet cloth in his face. _

“Really?” Kakashi grumbled, shooting a disbelieving glare at her back.

“Now that you’re recovered and you’ve made it  _ very clear _ you don’t want to talk to me,” S-KRA said over her shoulder, “I have other tasks to attend to.”

Kakashi tossed the washcloth to the ground as he watched S-KRA storm out of the room, slamming his bedroom door closed behind her. He shook his head slowly, reveling in the wake of his throbbing lip, cold chest, and warm hand still radiating from S-KRA’s touch. She wasn’t artificial. She  _ couldn’t  _ be artificial. No  _ real _ person had made Kakashi feel this amount of sensation in such a short amount of time.

There were aspects of her that were more human than anyone he’d ever known.

* * *

She’d kept her distance through the rest of the day, somehow managing to find enough tasks to always be busy whenever Kakashi found her around the house, even after so many domestic tasks had already been performed. He’d shrugged it off, giving her space. Kakashi didn’t know  _ why _ his instincts should scream that he needed to respect her space, but artificial human or not, S-KRA’s feelings still felt real. The distance felt like the same cold shoulder Kakashi’s wife would’ve given him when brought to the limits of her saintly tolerance for his behavior.

When he finally sat down for dinner, she uttered the first words she’d spoken to him since storming out of his bedroom. “Do you need anything else?”

Kakashi eyed his steaming plate of broccoli and meat, sliding his fingers around the cool steel of his fork and knife. “No. Thank you, Sakura.”

“Well, if that’s all…” S-KRA turned away as Kakashi cut into his meat and froze.

“Sakura,” he said, feeling an unnerving tension in the atmosphere, “is something wrong?”

S-KRA turned on her heels, expelling a heavy sigh. “My protocol dictates that I–”

“I don’t want to hear about your protocol,” Kakashi said, hardening his voice.

He wanted to know what this  _ feeling _ was about. He set his silverware on the table with a clank, holding S-KRA’s gaze as he narrowed his eyes. She tightened her jaw, clenched her fists at her sides. To most she would seem unmoving, but Kakashi was observant. He saw what laid beneath her mechanical facade. Only, he couldn’t understand  _ why _ she should be upset. By all accounts of what she was supposed to be, it just didn’t make any sense.

“Well too bad,” S-KRA snapped, “because this is  _ about _ my protocol. You are not allowing me to fulfill it and therefore I am requesting...my functions would best serve another household.”

She shied away, turning her chin into the crook of her shoulder, completely closing off her expression from Kakashi’s view behind a curtain of pink hair. If he could see her face, he would imagine it twisted in an expression of pain, but he knew he’d be wrong. She sounded so hurt, though. She sounded like a woman breaking off from a relationship, though they’d barely even started. She had no reason to make demands or even have an opinion of this relationship, but…

“Your  _ protocol?” _ Kakashi growled, keeping his voice low and controlled. “Is that really what this is about?”

S-KRA whipped her pink locks out of her face, locking fiery jade eyes with Kakashi’s. “Of course. What else could this be about?”

“I don’t know,” Kakashi said honestly.

“I have been here fifty-nine hours, twenty-three minutes and thirty-three seconds and you have not yet allowed me to meet the demands of my programming. By K-R-A protocols, it is acceptable for you to request a replacement unit to best serve your needs and reassign me. I–”

“You want to be reassigned?”

S-KRA held Kakashi’s gaze and raised her chin. “I am a machine, Kakashi Hatake. Nothing more. Do you think I’m capable of wanting anything?”

Kakashi’s lips parted as he watched the sparkle in S-KRA’s eyes, far from anything he’d describe as lifeless. The wavering shimmer in her gaze reflected emotion, the rising formation of tears, a look of hope as she awaited his answer. He  _ felt _ she was capable of wanting, yes. But he was no idiot. He knew he was looking at a shell of a woman formed around nothing more than electrical currents and synthetic fluids that fooled the human eye due to clever programming. He did not think she should be capable of wanting. He didn’t understand how she could be. 

He wanted her to stay. 

But if  _ she _ wasn’t capable of wanting, Kakashi’s wants couldn’t amount to anything either. They hadn’t mattered to him these past years since Rin’s death and his subsequent forced retirement. It was best to push his feelings aside and continue denying any existence of them whatsoever.

“No,” he told her, hardening his gaze as he sealed off that part of him telling him to  _ want _ and  _ need _ and  _ feel _ again, “I don’t think you’re capable.”

S-KRA worked her jaw before giving Kakashi a grave nod. “So you will agree to my recommendation of change? With your approval, I will submit signals to the corporation to initiate my ownership revocation in the morning.”

Kakashi felt his jaw tense as he waved her off, raising his fork from the table and turning his eyes into his plate. “Fine.”

He stabbed his meat, bringing the savory, juicy flavor to his tongue before hearing the patter of S-KRA’s feet moving away from him. Kakashi refused to look as her quieting steps were silenced by the screech of the next slice his cut drew into his meat. His eyes only focused on the gleaming knife dragging across his ivory plate. 

Her final words to him would echo in his mind while he finished his meal and headed to bed, and then in his dreams as he slept.

_ “Good night, Kakashi Hatake.” _


	5. It Wants to Stay

“What?” Guy leapt to his feet, slamming his palms on the table between them. “Kakashi! You _can’t!”_

“It’s already done, Guy,” Kakashi said as he slouched deeper in his chair.

“No, you must not give up!” Guy shook his head vehemently. “There is always a way. It’s never too late!”

“To do _what?”_ Kakashi scoffed, crossing one leg over the other so neither Guy nor Rock Lee ambling into the kitchen would notice how anxiously his legs thrummed beneath the table. “She asked to be reassigned. Said it was for the best. Besides, she’s already submitted the change to the K-R-A corporation.”

“What?” Lee cried. “Sakura is leaving?”

“No!” Guy slapped the table again, vibrating it violently where Kakashi’s foot touched the table leg. “I won’t stand for it. She was a _gift,_ Kakashi, bestowed on you by your best friend in the world. You absolutely cannot return a gift!”

Kakashi raised a brow. “What if the gift returns itself?”

“Excuse me,” Rock Lee said, head bowed even as he spoke with determination and met Kakashi’s gaze with narrowed eyes, “but I do not believe Sakura is at fault here.”

“Lee!” Guy gasped.

“I mean no disrespect, Kakashi, Sir!” Lee said, raising his chin and holding Kakashi’s gaze. “However, K-R-A protocol only allows for the AI to initiate a change already suggested by its owner.”

Kakashi balked. “I never–”

“Kakashi!” Guy cried emphatically, circling around the table and falling to his knees in a dramatic display. “How could you? What did you say to her?”

“N-nothing!” Kakashi sputtered as he stood, swiftly dodging Guy’s arms groping to wrap around his calves.

Kakashi’s eyes blew wide as he stumbled back, away from the table and the _embarrassing_ scene Guy was making. No grown man should grovel on his knees, especially not on behalf of a machine, and a machine that wasn’t even _his._

“Get a grip, Guy,” Kakashi grumbled.

He combed shaking fingers through his hair as Guy wailed without inhibition. Seconds later, Guy was being wrapped and held in the arms of Rock Lee. As Lee expressed condolences to Guy, Kakashi felt his palms prickle with sweat. His heart began to race. There was no reason he should’ve had this reaction, but somehow he couldn’t rein in the visceral response he was feeling due to Guy's behavior. Kakashi felt _he_ was the one who needed to get a grip.

“If you do not want her to leave,” Rock Lee said to Kakashi as he patted Guy’s back, “tell her, Sir! Tell her you require her service and she will not go!”

Kakashi groaned. “I can’t–”

“You must!” Guy sprang to his feet, throwing himself into Kakashi’s arms. “Kakashi! My dearest Kakashi! Do not let the blossom of flourishing feelings flee from your life so soon!”

Kakashi grimaced before uneasily patting Guy’s bowlcut. His chest ached, and that maybe wasn’t only because Guy was crushing his ribcage. He sighed heavily with what little air was left in his lungs before shoving Guy off of him. Kakashi didn’t know about any _flourishing feelings,_ but he did know talking about S-KRA’s departure made something inside him ache. It left an emptiness in his chest that he felt even more acutely with the release of Guy’s embrace.

“Okay.” Kakashi huffed as he straightened his jacket which was wrinkled and moistened by Guy’s tears. “I’ll tell her...I’ll tell her I don’t want her to leave.”

He hated to admit it, but it was true.

He’d made a mistake. If there was any chance Kakashi could stop her from leaving as Rock Lee claimed there was, he had to try.

* * *

He couldn’t tell her those words. His mouth wouldn’t form the sentence. His pride wouldn’t allow him to admit he was wrong. Instead, in the face of her shining green eyes staring back at him with a cool indifference he felt he’d never see from her, he settled for a more direct approach. Given the artificial human’s unique penchant for bouts of anger, he had to handle S-KRA carefully. He looked at her with a firm set to his jaw. She waited, still as if she was set to standby.

“Sakura,” he said, giving weight to her name, “you’re staying.”

“I don’t understand,” S-KRA said with a cock of her head.

“I’m keeping you.”

“But the procedure for my return has already been initiated, Kakashi.”

S-KRA spoke to Kakashi slowly, as if he was a child not prepared to hear the truth. Maybe if he’d believed her, that _would_ be the appropriate way to handle him. But he knew she was wrong. For Guy to have arranged so many customizations of this K-R-A model for Kakashi’s personal use, it would take time for those efforts to be undone. She was a machine. Like any machine, she would need to be reset to take on new ownership. If she was still talking to Kakashi now, that meant she hadn’t been reset yet. They’d probably only _begun_ the setup of her new programming at corporate before Kakashi was able to halt the procedure with his email the second he’d entered his car to leave Guy’s place.

“I know that,” Kakashi drawled, responding just as slowly and deliberately as S-KRA, “and I’ve terminated that transaction. I just sent the message to corporate. They can’t take you back.”

S-KRA’s eyes fluttered. “Wh-why?”

_Why._

Kakashi didn’t want to examine that question. His answer to the artificial human and everyone outside himself was simple. It was also a lie. He would tell her he was doing this because of Guy when in reality, there was some underlying motive he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Kakashi’s stomach turned at the mere thought of S-KRA leaving. The heavy cloud of depression drifted back over his head when he entertained that tragic notion (and when had that cloud left him in the first place for it to make its return?). He needed S-KRA to remain with him for more reasons than just appeasing his friend. Some part of him felt he was doing it _for_ S-KRA, but that couldn’t be right. The woman was a machine. And yet, that wasn’t true. It felt wrong to think of her that way now. She could be angered, aroused, shy, even combative. Kakashi would never expect to see such imperfect traits in something which was supposed to be artificially perfected. Maybe this was dangerous. If S-KRA wasn’t just a machine - if she wasn’t an _it_ \- how was Kakashi supposed to continue feeling detached from her? Even now, it was strange that S-KRA should question his decision and not simply comply like any machine would. She stared at him with those jade green eyes of hers, no longer impassive, boring her expectation into Kakashi.

_Dangerous._

Kakashi ground his teeth before gritting out his answer. “Because you’re _my_ property.”

S-KRA’s jaw clenched just as firmly as Kakashi had _his_ set. He could see the flexing muscles along her jawline and the narrowing of her eyes. Beside her slender hips, her hands clenched into fists. Kakashi held his ground. He knew to expect an outburst. He knew no _machine_ would respond that way, and yet he knew S-KRA _would._

“Property?” S-KRA flicked her hair off her shoulder, pink locks swaying with the same ease her entire posture suddenly exhibited in spite of how rigid she’d been a second ago. “Yes. I am, aren’t I? Property.”

Kakashi balked. Her tone held the same loaded animosity as a human woman’s ‘I’m fine’. She was definitely not fine. She was _not_ fine with being property, even if she smiled at him as she clasped her hands behind her back.

“Well, if I’m staying,” S-KRA said, voice high and chipper as her gaze skirted past Kakashi, “then what would you like me to work on next?”

“Sakura…” Kakashi sighed. 

He reached for her and then withdrew his hand to his side. He didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t apologize to a robot. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t _soothe_ her and _hold_ her the way his instincts seemed to be telling him he should. Kakashi rubbed his forehead as it began to throb. He was getting _stressed_ about this. He hadn’t been stressed in years. He’d been tired, bored, lonely, but stress was something he hadn’t felt since his days in the military when he was saving lives, protecting comrades, doing something important. Stress was a feeling that only existed when there was something important to lose.

“Me?” S-KRA laughed. “Well I think _you’ve_ already done all the work that needs to be done on me by claiming your ownership. Why don’t I settle for preparing dinner?”

Kakashi felt his chest clench as S-KRA passed him, wagging a finger in his face. Behind her placid smile, there radiated an energy brimming with anger. Maybe it was _actual_ electricity thrumming through her wire networking, leaping into him like waves of static shocks. That seemed the likely explanation.

But Kakashi didn’t perceive it that way.

* * *

He couldn’t sleep that night. 

He had to apologize. He’d stayed up late with a book, reading into the early morning hours following a tense evening of silence spent between them over dinner. Now, he tossed his bookmarked novel aside and slid his feet out of bed. S-KRA was still recharging, but he could interrupt her to talk. He _had_ to if he wanted to salvage what few hours were left of this night. Even if she was just a machine, S-KRA was clearly programmed to respond to his cold demeanor as if it hurt her. Kakashi couldn’t shake the image from his mind of the look on her face when he’d called her his property. She’d been quick to recover from it by putting up a strong front, but Kakashi hadn’t missed that moment of vulnerability. S-KRA was _more_ than property to him and she deserved to know it.

He found her in the dark, in the spare bedroom with only the faint green glow of machinery by her bedside. She _really_ looked like she was sleeping. Kakashi felt it take his breath away as he sank his weight into her mattress, watching the shallow rise and fall of her chest. It made his throat constrict to watch a woman once again sleeping in bed beside him, under his roof. He could reach out and touch her. At first, he didn’t think he should. He just watched. But then he realized if he was ever going to apologize, he would need to touch her in order for her to reactivate. Kakashi reached for S-KRA’s shoulder, skimming in the dark with his fingertips over the curves and fine hairs of her bare arm. Her soft skin radiated warmth. When Kakashi breathed in the alluring, indescribable scent that was uniquely hers, S-KRA gasped. Her eyes blinked open. The whites of them were an alien glow beneath the green charging light.

“Sakura,” Kakashi whispered. “I have t–”

S-KRA shot upright. “Kakashi! Do you require my services?”

Kakashi’s words caught in his throat, his hand stilling on S-KRA’s arm. His apology had been rolling off his tongue until S-KRA’s words made him realize just how compromising their position was. It occurred to him at this inconvenient moment the types of service _usually_ sought at late hours in bed. There was no denying that S-KRA’s figure looked tempting. The shadows cast by the dim green light accentuated every thinly-dressed dip and valley of her curves. Kakashi licked his lips as he panned his gaze up S-KRA’s body to her face. He found her staring at him. He needed to say something.

“I–”

S-KRA put her hand over his. “Are you okay?”

“Sakura, listen–”

S-KRA shushed him, sliding her hand along his wrist and up his arm before pulling, drawing him closer. “You don’t have to say it. I know what you need.”

S-KRA closed the gap between them. Kakashi inhaled sharply when S-KRA pressed her lips to his. He broke the kiss a second later, eyes widening as he pulled away. This _wasn’t_ what he came here for. He didn’t want S-KRA to think that it was. He pressed trembling fingers to his lips still tingling with a sensation he’d long written off as something he’d never feel again. Her kiss _felt_ like a real woman’s, not just because her lips were like a silk caress, but because he could feel her pulse. He could feel the soul beneath her mechanics.

S-KRA frowned in the darkness. “Did I do something wrong? You’d like sex _without_ the kissing?”

“Dammit, Sakura!” Kakashi growled, averting his eyes from the nipple that peeked from her draping neckline and the hem of her nightgown riding dangerously high on her thigh. “I’m not here for sex. I came here to apologize.”

“Apologize,” S-KRA drawled.

She narrowed her eyes at him in the darkness. Kakashi rolled _his_ eyes and heaved a sigh. S-KRA’s tone and demeanor sounded more like a demand for apology than a question. Well...whether she was asking or demanding, now was as good a time as any.

“You’re not–” Kakashi cleared his throat, licking his lips and unwittingly tasting the essence of S-KRA still lingering on them. “You’re not my property,” he said softly.

“Actually–”

“Not _just_ my property. That isn’t why I decided to keep you here...with me.”

“You mean you don’t want to _use_ me?” S-KRA paused. 

Kakashi knew she was gauging his reaction. But he didn’t flinch, not this time. He was able to look her dead in the eye. He didn’t understand his own reasoning for wanting her. But he wasn’t going to deny that he wanted her anymore. That method was backfiring; it was only hurting both of them.

“I want _you,”_ he said carefully, watching her eyes widen and her lips part. “I don’t know anything about using you. I just. I don’t want you to leave, Sakura.”

“You don’t?” Her voice cracked - just like any human whose body could betray their emotions at the worst possible times.

Kakashi grinned. “No. I definitely don’t want you to leave. Tell me. Do you... _want_...to stay?”

“Kakashi…” S-KRA shook her head. “You know I can’t wan–”

“Do you want to stay?”

“Yes? Yes.” S-KRA sighed, her shoulders relaxing as she slipped her soft hands into Kakashi’s palms, bridging them together. “I want to stay with you.”

Something was _definitely_ different about her. Kakashi would never be able to explain to anyone how this artificial human made his heart soar with those simple, impossible words.

His smile softened as he gave a nod to the machinery at their side. “You’d better finish recharging for the night.”

“You too,” S-KRA said, looking Kakashi up and down with a knowing smile. “Sleep better.”

“I–” Kakashi bit his cheek, not wanting to give into her slick segue into calling him out for not sleeping. “Fine. I’ll see you in the morning,” he said as he slipped out of the bed.

His hands pulled on hers until the distance between them grew too great to maintain contact. Kakashi folded his arms across his chest as he stood beside the bed and watched S-KRA recline back into a sleeping position, reaching for the green glowing buttons at her side.

“Good night,” he whispered hoarsely as S-KRA closed her eyes and went deaf to him. “Sakura.”

It was a far better farewell than their last goodnight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m thinking about bumping this up to an E rating now that I’ve gotten this far and the plot is moving along more quickly than anticipated. It leaves room to expand on the smut. Just a heads up. It might happen.


	6. She’s Real

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note the upgraded rating. It’s getting explicit here

Following last night’s conversation, Kakashi felt the change between him and S-KRA when he found her cooking in his kitchen. The tension surrounding talks of S-KRA leaving had dissipated, giving way to the rise of a new tension. S-KRA had _kissed_ him. She’d even propositioned him, though he wouldn’t dare mention that this morning, not even to an artificial woman. He couldn’t look at her, feel her presence in his kitchen now, without picturing the way her nightgown had slid over her curves beneath that green glow. He couldn’t respond to her ‘good morning’ when he watched her supple lips move and remembered how they felt. When S-KRA froze with skillet and spatula in hand, furrowing her pink brows at him, Kakashi cleared his throat. Great, now he was acting like an idiot. His failure to respond was alarming her.

“Good morning,” he said lamely.

S-KRA’s smile lit up the room. “Sit. I made eggs and bacon.”

“Ah,” Kakashi said as he pulled out a chair, “thank you.”

Before he could sink into the seat, a knock sounded at his front door. Kakashi slumped, draping his weight over the chair. The sheer rapidity and volume of the thuds rattling his door were a dead giveaway as to who was there.

“We have guests,” S-KRA said, smiling toward the door as she transferred the eggs from skillet to plate. “Tell them to sit. I’ll make some more.”

“You don’t have to feed them,” Kakashi grumbled as he dragged his feet toward the continuing, incessant knocking.

“Kakashi!” S-KRA hissed before Kakashi’s name was echoed from the bellowing voice outside his door. “Be a good friend. Feed your guests.”

Kakashi pursed his lips as he reached for his door. He was not happy about this intrusion. He had so many things to say to S-KRA - _alone._ Or maybe there wouldn’t be much talking involved once they were alone. Licking his lips, Kakashi tugged his door open and tried to push aside all thoughts of last night and what his current feelings meant.

“Kakashi!” Guy said, flinging his arms open widely as Kakashi peered at him through the screen. “My eternal rival! Please tell me the good news!”

“Yes!” Rock Lee said, pressing forward from behind Guy’s ostentatious arms. “Is the corporation coming to retrieve Sakura this morning? We can still stop them!”

“No,” Kakashi sighed, “they won’t be coming.”

He’d received the email confirmation this morning. Out of fear for the same fate of Rock Lee and Guy’s concerns, Kakashi had checked it several times to make sure he read it right. But they’d accepted his decision and wished him the best with his unit. Kakashi rolled his eyes. _Unit._ It was hard to believe that was still all she was to people. S-KRA was an entire personality, artificially crafted or not. He couldn’t think of her as a _thing_ any longer. He found it hard to believe he ever had.

“Oh!” Guy bellowed as he tore the screen door open, nearly knocking it off its hinges. “You’ve made the right choice, Kakashi!”

Kakashi sighed, not bothering to fight off the arms wrapping around him. “I know, Guy.”

He patted his friend’s back in his best polite attempt at getting him to back off. Fortunately, Guy was more interested in seeing Kakashi’s face than holding the embrace. He withdrew from the hug to blind Kakashi with his pearly white smile.

“Dear Sakura will take care of you now,” he said with a sniffle, “just like you deserve. You deserve happiness, my friend!”

“I don’t know about that,” Kakashi said with a cringe as he recounted within the span of an instant a lifetime of causing others harm, “but thank you, Guy. For your friendship...and for Sakura.”

“Guy! Rock Lee!” S-KRA called. “Come and eat! Kakashi, you too! Your food is getting cold!”

Closing his front door, Kakashi struck his hands into his pockets and turned for the kitchen. Kakashi lagged behind the idiots running ahead of him as he made his way to rejoin S-KRA in the kitchen. At his more leisurely pace, Kakashi smiled to himself.

This felt a little bit like having a family.

* * *

  
  


Kakashi couldn’t have anticipated this... _thing_ that had developed between him and S-KRA any more than he could’ve anticipated her being able to bridge him and his friends together into a semblance of family. Now that it was just the two of them again, he didn’t know what to do next. Following last night’s conversation, he couldn’t decide what should happen _this_ evening. It seemed S-KRA had feelings. She’d been attracted to him before. There was no denying now that Kakashi felt attracted to _her._ But could he act on that attraction? Was S-KRA even capable of consenting, or would her programming override whatever preferences she might have to satisfy Kakashi’s needs?

Kakashi shook away those thoughts as he jammed his toothbrush into his mouth, staring at his tired-eyed expression in the bathroom mirror. He didn’t know what he was supposed to do with her, so he would do nothing. He brushed his teeth, splashed water on his face, and intended to go to bed without confronting S-KRA, because he was afraid if he said _anything,_ he’d be tempted to influence her. He’d be tempted by her curves and her lips and the way she looked at him. Kakashi took a shuddering breath, combed his fingers through his hair, and dragged himself off to bed.

Only, when he got there, S-KRA was laid across his mattress, waiting for him.

“Kakashi,” S-KRA called.

Her voice was lowered, much like the way in which she crawled toward him across his smooth comforter. Her breasts flattened, spilling out between her collarbone and the bed, showing an ample amount of cleavage as she reached the edge. Kakashi’s blood pumped faster as he took in her hooded eyes, her shimmering lips, and the red edges of satin draping around her porcelain skin.

“Wha–” He licked his lips. “What are you doing in here?”

“Kakashi,” she repeated, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear as it slipped in front of her face, “don’t pretend you’ve forgotten about last night.”

Kakashi gulped. His throat was suddenly impossibly tight. _“You_ haven’t forgotten about last night, I see.”

S-KRA gave him a sultry smile. “You see, huh? Do you _like_ what you see?”

Kakashi’s body worked ahead of his brain, nodding before he answered honestly. “Very much.”

S-KRA slid her legs forward and patted the empty space on the bed beside her. “Come h–”

“Sakura.” Kakashi exhaled. “You don’t have to do this.”

S-KRA narrowed her eyes and slapped her hand on the mattress. “Come _here.”_

With a defeated roll of his eyes, Kakashi complied. He let his weight sink into the mattress as S-KRA’s warmth permeated at his side. When he casted her a sideways glance, he found S-KRA’s hands balled into fists over her pale thighs. Her cheeks were flushed a shade of pink just as pretty as the curtain of hair through which her jade green eyes peered at him. 

“If I _want_ to...with you,” she said shyly, slipping her hand into Kakashi’s, “will you let me?”

Kakashi locked eyes with her and tightened the loose grip between their fingers. “How can you want to? How can you possibly know _what_ you want?”

S-KRA shrugged. “I just do.”

“How do you know you don’t want this only because you know it’s what _I_ want?”

S-KRA’s hand slipped out of Kakashi’s and squeezed his thigh. “So then this _is_ what you want.”

Kakashi shook his head. “That’s not what I’m s–”

“Just shut up and fuck me,” S-KRA whispered before pressing her lips against Kakashi’s.

Kakashi was respectful. Kakashi valued S-KRA. Kakashi could only restrain himself for so long in the face of tempting curves and tantalizing scents and soft _soft_ caresses. S-KRA might’ve been an AI, but Kakashi was only human.

S-KRA wrapped herself around him, sliding her smooth ass into Kakashi’s lap as she devoured his lips. She ground her weight into his burgeoning erection, emphasizing how soft and pliable and _warm_ she was. It only took a moment's hesitation of skimming his hands up S-KRA’s bare shoulders and collarbone before Kakashi gave into the temptation to throw her down on the mattress and hover over her, reciprocating her kisses with increasing eagerness.

S-KRA moaned into his lips, gyrating her hips up to meet them with Kakashi’s cock protruding from his soft pants. Kakashi shivered at the silky pressure swiping his tip, awakening his sensitized nerves. He touched S-KRA, anxious to feel her soft skin under his palms, anxious to explore the contours of her body. His fingertips trembled as they glided along her heated flesh, dipping beneath the edges of satin until he felt the hard protrusions of her nipples straining against her lingerie. He exhaled into her soft lips, pleased by the moan it elicited from her. Fuck, she was real. It couldn’t feel any more real than this.

S-KRA trailed her kisses to the corner of Kakashi’s lips, then along his jaw. She spread her fingers across Kakashi’s chest, pressing him off of her with the flats of her palms and some impressive strength. When she curled up to his waistband, she slipped her fingers in the elastic, tugged until his cock sprang free, and wrapped her hot lips around his tip. Kakashi gasped and arched into the unexpected assault, tangling his fingers in the silky head of hair beneath him. S-KRA moaned, vibrating her lips around his cock as she swallowed down his length. The heat that enveloped his cock made Kakashi’s eyes roll back as jolts of pleasure shot up his spine. 

Kakashi released S-KRA’s bobbing head to curl his fingers in the sheets at his sides. He thrusted into her tight lips and choked on a moan when an unexpected heat and moisture swept across his balls. The feeling curled like heat through his gut. He’d never felt anything like what S-KRA just did. His balls tightened as the moisture and velvety heat of S-KRA’s dangerous mouth left his scrotum. When she wrapped her lips around his tip again, and swallowed him down to the hilt, Kakashi choked back his orgasm, but there was no stopping it from flowing. He lurched into her with the force of it, then caught himself with a hand extended to the mattress. The dizzying waves of euphoria completely knocked him off balance. S-KRA only adjusted around his movements, never stopped sucking until he was finished.

As S-KRA laid back in bed, eyeing Kakashi with a spark of satisfaction in her jade green windows to an artificial soul, Kakashi gasped for air, panted, fell into the mattress beside her, and eventually found a way to form words again. It had been so long. And S-KRA had pulled out all the stops with just her first blow job. This was already far beyond the mechanical sex he would’ve expected.

“Where–” Kakashi licked his lips and turned to his side to run his hand along the billowing waves of satin formed around her hips. “Where did you learn to suck cock like that?”

S-KRA perked a brow. “Makeout Paradise, page two-hundred eleven, line six.”

Kakashi’s eyes went wide. His mouth went dry as he gaped at her. His cock twitched, eager again to have her after hearing that. Here was a woman who could literally take a page from his favorite raunchy books and turn the fantasy into reality. She had the pages memorized just as he had, probably even more precisely. It was a turn-on that she’d even absorbed their contents. It was fucking _erotic_ that she was able to reenact the scenes - that she’d anticipated Kakashi would like that.

“Fuck,” Kakashi said as he crawled over her, slipping her lingerie above her hip to feel the bare skin of her ass beneath it. “I need to fuck you.”

“Then,” S-KRA said breathily, “don’t keep me waiting.”

Kakashi hesitated. He looked into her hooded eyes, passed his gaze over her flushed cheeks and lips still swollen from being wrapped around his cock. She _looked_ like a woman in heat. She practically just _said_ she wanted it. But…

“Will you be able to feel it?” he asked her quietly before cupping his hand around her jaw and kissing her silky lips.

“Don’t worry,” S-KRA said with a curt shake of her head. “You won’t hurt me.”

“No. Will you be able to feel _pleasure?_ I want to make you feel good, Sakura.”

S-KRA swallowed and turned her head to the side, breaking their kiss and any chance that Kakashi might see the look in her eyes. But he _was_ able to see the color in her cheeks grow brighter. 

“If you’d _read my manual,_ you’d know.” She heaved a sigh. “Check behind my ear. There’s a small button,” she said. “That, combined with the right stimulation of my sex organs, allows my system to synthesize the feeling of orgasm.”

Kakashi slid his hand from her cheek, up behind the shell of her ear. He felt a small bump and ran his fingertip over the rounded edges. S-KRA’s breath hitched. Kakashi felt himself thickening, growing harder in anticipation of pressing this button. When he sunk his finger into it and felt it give, the experience felt just as erotic as fingering a woman. S-KRA arched into him as if just feeling his fingers press behind her ear had derived that kind of pleasure for her. She turned her face toward him, meeting his gaze with green eyes blown wide and lips parted. Kakashi kissed her deeply, sweeping his tongue through her mouth as S-KRA curled her fingers around the nape of his neck. She nipped at his lip and ground her hips up to slide her wet pussy along the tip of his cock.

“Now,” S-KRA breathed.

With a growl, Kakashi thrust his hips, plunging into her. She was _so tight,_ just like Kakashi remembered a real woman feeling. Except, now he was sleeping with a robot. He couldn’t think of this that way, because this was _S-KRA._ No machine like her existed. She was one of a kind, and how different was that from a woman derived from genetics and organic tissue? Kakashi couldn’t fault her for her wires and programming, not when _his_ mind was wired to want to penetrate her deeper and deeper with each thrust, to keep feeling the heat of her body, to be driven by her breathy moans, not when _his_ altered and damaged body held probably as many wires as she had. If S-KRA was artificial, maybe so was he. But that didn’t matter because they were both about to reach the heights of a _genuine_ orgasm. 

“Sakura,” Kakashi growled against her cheek before sliding his lips to meet hers again and kiss her wet lips.

S-KRA gave a sharp cry and arched into him. Her pussy clenched around Kakashi’s cock in rhythmic waves as her fingers dug into his shoulders. Kakashi let her drive him forward, yielding beneath the insistent presses of her fingers as he pounded his cock as deep into her as he could. With his cock being stroked as it was, it didn’t take long for him to follow her. He gritted his teeth against S-KRA’s lips, shaking with the initial force of his orgasm before grinding more slowly into her, feeling the waves recede as his breathing peaked. He let out a low growl as he reached the end, skimming his hand down S-KRA’s satin curves.

“Kakashi,” S-KRA rasped, her breath fanning his damp hair against his face. “That was amazing.”

He lifted himself to hover over her and look into her eyes. “Yeah? You felt–”

“Everything,” S-KRA said with a soft smile before reaching up and sweeping away the hair still clinging to Kakashi’s forehead. “Do you have any regrets? We don’t have to repeat–”

“No.” Kakashi kissed her, hard and chaste on her lips before she could say another word. “Don’t say we won’t repeat this. You haven’t even re-enacted any scenes from Makeout _Tactics_ yet.”

S-KRA peered up at the sly smile he gave her, and though her eyes narrowed, there was no ill will behind them. In fact, they sparkled with mirth which complemented the dewy perspiration on her face so beautifully framed by her pink hair splayed around Kakashi’s pillow. Kakashi stroked her cheek, feeling the softness of her skin before threading his fingers behind her ear and pressing to switch off the setting that would leave her wanton while she’d recharged for the night if he’d neglected it.

“Thank you,” S-KRA said before taking his palm to her lips with a soft grasp and giving it a kiss.

“I’m the one who should be thanking you, Sakura,” Kakashi whispered as he watched S-KRA’s eyelids grow heavy. “You’ve changed my life for the better.”


	7. Epilogue

The spray bottle on the shelf rattled and tilted, nearly falling until Kakashi peeled his hand from S-KRA’s hip to catch it. S-KRA’s throaty moan carried through the dark closet (hopefully not  _ through _ the door and into the hall) as she trembled around his cock. Kakashi tightened his grip on the shelf as he thrusted into her at the angle he’d found,  _ just _ where he needed to be to get off with her. He continued pumping her from behind, biting his bottom lip to keep from crying out. He sunk his teeth deeper to silence his hoarse cry when that sensation spiked. When he finally shivered away the lingering sensations of his orgasm, S-KRA turned, pulling her skirt down around him.

“Come on,” she whispered, “we need to get back to the barbecue.”

“Eh,” Kakashi said as he tucked himself back into his pants, “no one will miss us.”

“Kakashi,” S-KRA hissed, moving more violently. She’d probably smack him if they weren’t in such a confined space where she didn’t want them to be found. “It’s  _ our _ party. I need to put out the food for your friends. I can’t  _ believe _ you wanted to do this now.”

“They’re not any more  _ my _ friends than they are yours,” Kakashi said with a groan, reaching in the dark for the knob. “I don’t even know why we invited all of them. We could’ve just left it at Guy and Lee. Decent?”

He glanced over his shoulder. S-KRA looked as presentable to him as she’d been when they slipped in here, but he couldn’t be sure. Thankfully, when Kakashi cracked the door open and peeked his head out, the hallway looked clear.

“Yes,” S-KRA said, shoving him out.

Kakashi stumbled into the hall with S-KRA pressing against him. When he heard footsteps rounding the corner at the end of the hall, he sprinted through the bedroom doorway across the hall and waited behind it while he listened to S-KRA giving her explanation as to why they’d had trouble finding her. Kakashi grinned against the door. His little Miss Technical was finally developing into a very skilled liar.

When he finally opened the bedroom door, he found the hall clear again. He slipped his hands into his pockets and turned for the kitchen, where half the crowd was gathered around his table. He still couldn’t believe Guy had told S-KRA he had this many friends. Kakashi  _ knew _ all of these people, sure, but they were more like acquaintances. He was sure they didn’t like  _ him. _ He’d never given them a reason to. Yet, they’d all agreed to come here at S-KRA’s invitation. Maybe Kakashi had more friends than he thought.

He tilted his head at the sight of conversing and laughing people filling his kitchen. While S-KRA worked at the sink and met Kakashi’s eyes with a heated gaze, Genma Shiranui beckoned Anko Mitarashi to come sit in his lap at the kitchen table. Iruka Umino chastised Genma for it, warning he’d break Kakashi’s chair. Kurenai and Asuma Sarutobi leaned against the counter, chatting quietly and drinking beers. S-KRA cut between them and the table with flushed cheeks and a coy smile, holding a large platter over her shoulder and demanding everyone sit and eat. They all couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off of her. Maybe some of them were here because they were curious about the AI that had turned Kakashi Hatake around and finally made him come out of his shell. But if he thought any of them had come to ridicule or belittle him or her, seeing the way they all looked at her made it perfectly clear no one felt such a way. They admired her, they smiled at her, they spoke politely to her, they obeyed and started reaching for chairs and food a second after she’d told them to eat. S-KRA seemed to own the room. She fit in so well.

“Kakashi!” Guy’s voice boomed over Kakashi’s shoulder, startling him before a heavy arm wrapped over his shoulder and pinned him against Guy’s burly chest. “What are you doing over here? Come join your most bountiful celebration of your young love!”

Kakashi peered sideways at Guy raising his beer to this comment. “It’s a  _ barbecue, _ Guy.”

“I know!” Guy cried, his voice raising an octave as he squeezed Kakashi tighter. “Isn’t it incredible? Sakura throws a wonderful party. And you have all these people surrounding you. Lee. Lee!”

Kakashi followed the turn of Guy’s head to see Rock Lee stepping in from the back door, coming to them with a smile.

“Yes, Guy Sir!” Lee said, bowing his head. “What can I do for you?”

“Please set up a place for my friend Kakashi and I to sit together with Sakura’s lovely meal.” He winked. “Stack the plates high for us, will you?”

“Yes, Sir!” Lee winked back and sprinted off as if starting a race.

Kakashi rolled his eyes toward Guy as he shrugged out of his embrace. “He doesn’t have to do th–”

“Nonsense! I must have you sitting beside me to challenge you, Kakashi.”

“Challenge?”

“Rock Lee will time our competition. Whoever can eat the most burgers in the shortest amount of time wins.”

Kakashi grimaced. “I don’t think Sakura will like us wasting all the food she’s prepared like that.”

But something made Kakashi’s heart pump at the prospect of another competition with Guy. Beyond their morning races, Guy was getting more creative lately with these, and as much as Kakashi complained, there was never a dull moment with Guy around.

“Do not fear!” Guy laughed, clapping Kakashi on the back. “Sakura made more than enough. She’s already generously given me permission to use her food.”

Kakashi raised a brow. “You had this planned out?”

“So you cannot refuse!”

“Fine,” Kakashi said with a roll of his eyes, stepping toward the table where Lee was setting them up and clearing space.

Guy cried gleefully before running ahead of Kakashi, and Kakashi allowed himself a small smile as he watched his friend’s back. But then S-KRA marched toward him, face red and eyes narrowed. She pulled him aside and pressed her mouth to his ear.

“You need to turn my libido  _ off, _ Kakashi,” she hissed. “You left it on and I’ve been unable to devote my system toward any task since leaving that closet with you!”

“Oh?” Kakashi tried to feign surprise, but he’d found so much enjoyment in watching her squirm as she worked, catching her eye-fucking him across the room. 

Still, she was asking so nicely. And with this competition starting, there was nothing he could do about it now. Kakashi hummed his disappointment as he swept his hand up her neck, pulled her in for a soft kiss, and tapped the button that would turn her back into the working machine who delivered a hell of a barbecue for the expanding circle of friends she’d brought him.

S-KRA sighed and met his eyes. “Thank you.”

“Well,” Kakashi drawled, “we’ll make up for it later.”

S-KRA shoved his shoulder, giving him a smirk. “Now go start your friendly competition. Kick Guy’s ass!”

“What’ll you give me?” Kakashi teased.

“You know I don’t work that way.”

S-KRA’s naughty smile promised otherwise. Kakashi turned to the table, unable to hide his smile from the others. He knew S-KRA worked in a  _ lot _ of ways, never ceasing to amaze him with her capabilities. He would enjoy every moment he could spend with her, because life was short. Whatever happiness he could bring to this little artificial human, whatever joy she gave him...he would treasure it. He wouldn’t hide from life anymore, no matter what came after. He’d always memorialize his lost loved ones, but life with S-KRA had taught him to live for the present and move on from the past. His present right now was full of friends, who were currently cheering him on with the excitement of an audience and competitor prepared for a new event about to begin.

Kakashi would embrace every new beginning from here on out with S-KRA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and commenting! It was really fun to explore this concept and get another scifi fanfic published to this site


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